First drug treatment court to be set up before year end

By Sharda Bacchus On In Guyana News |
Participants of yesterday’s opening ceremony of the Drug Treatment Court Training, which was held at the Pegasus Hotel. Among them are Chief Justice Roxane George (seated fifth, from right), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack (seated fourth from left), Commissioner of Police Leslie James (seated second from right) and Director of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (NANA) Major General (Ret’d) Michael Atherly (seated third from right).
Participants of yesterday’s opening ceremony of the Drug Treatment Court Training, which was held at the Pegasus Hotel. Among them are Chief Justice Roxane George (seated fifth, from right), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack (seated fourth from left), Commissioner of Police Leslie James (seated second from right) and Director of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (NANA) Major General (Ret’d) Michael Atherly (seated third from right).

The country’s first drug treatment court, aimed at providing alternative sentencing and reducing the rate of incarceration for non-violent drug offenders, is expected to be established before the end of the year.

This was disclosed yesterday morning at the opening ceremony of a Drug Treatment Court Training workshop, which was held in the Savannah Suites of the Pegasus Hotel.

The workshop, which was coordinated by the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (NANA), under the Ministry of Public Security, in collaboration with the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), an agency of the Organisation of American States (OAS), and the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC), was attended by various stakeholders, including law enforcement officials and members of the judiciary.